Sheriff: Knife attack at Texas college was random

A man accused of stabbing more than a dozen people at a suburban Houston community college randomly selected his victims and told investigators he had been fantasizing about conducting such an attack since he was 8 years old, authorities said yesterday.

Dylan Quick, 20, has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault in the Tuesday attack at the Lone Star Community College in Cypress, a school he attended about 20 miles northwest of Houston.

Classes resumed yesterday at the bustling campus where more than 18,000 students take courses. Students and others were overheard talking about the attack, riveted by the sequence of events that left 14 injured, two critically. Students said workers were seen yesterday morning washing away blood stains from outside the school’s health science building.

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said authorities were investigating a motive for the attack on the first and second floors of the building and noted the suspect had been planning it “for some time.” Investigators weren’t certain on which floor the attack began and were working yesterday to piece together the sequence of events.

Garcia said Quick has been “forthcoming,” adding, “He’s been matter-of-fact and interacting well with investigators.”

Quick slashed at his victims with a razor utility knife, and a similar weapon was found in his backpack when he was apprehended, Garcia said. Several of the 14 victims were hospitalized with slash wounds to the head and neck, but campus President Audre Levy said all are expected to recover.

Levy said the college police were notified of the attack at 11:13 a.m. Tuesday and that Quick was taken into custody at 11:17 a.m. Authorities said students assisted by tackling Quick and holding him down outside the health science building until the police arrived.

“The campus response was immediate,” Levy said. “We have done a lot of training and preparedness.”

Quick remained in custody yesterday and a spokeswoman with the Harris County district attorney’s office said no additional charges are expected. She said Quick has been ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.

Initial reports in the aftermath of the attack indicated a second suspect was being sought, a concern that prompted campus officials to issue emergency notifications despite the attacker’s quick apprehension. Garcia said authorities relied on campus surveillance video to determine that one person was responsible for the stabbings.

Investigators have searched Quick’s Houston home and confiscated a computer and other items, Garcia said.

No one answered the door or the phone at the red brick home Tuesday, though two vehicles were parked in the driveway, one of them a Honda Accord with a license plate that read “DYLAN.” It was not immediately known if Quick has an attorney.